Today's theme was Walking. Even though we drove to Tybee Island, we did a whole gob and a half of walking today.

Breakfast at the B&B was nice, but certainly not what Mom had raved about. She had reminisced about the wonderful chef they had when she was here. Breakfast for us this morning was french toast with orange sauce and two sausage patties. The food at the B&B in Asheville, where we went for Deb's 40th Birthday Trip, was far superior. The bed is very comfortable, though, and that's got to be one of the key elements of a good B&B. I'd rather have a good bed on a trip like this than a gourmet breakfast. Though at $150 a night, I'd like both.

The trip to Tybee didn't take long. U.S. 80 goes straight from Savannah, through a town called Thunderbolt, across marshland and directly onto the island. Our first stop was Tybee Island Marine Science Center, which consists of three grungy looking fish tanks that hold an octopus, a tiny stingray, and a halibut. There's a touch tank with some living crustaceans in it, a green turtle shell, a whale rib and vertabrae, and a couple teeth. It really did look like the abandoned storerooms of a real Marine Science Center, but without as much interesting stuff as an abandoned storeroom would have. It cost us a buck to get in to see the three aquariums with less saltwater marine life than you'd find at your average PetsMart.

Octopus in grungy tank

I also chose the Marine Science Center for my restroom facilities of the morning. The stalls don't have latches, and an elderly lady opened my door right when I was in the middle of the one leg hiked up wiping proceedure.

Tybee Beach

Next we walked out on the pier by the "Science Center". That was neat, and the wind was stiff. We watched a guy catch a stingray on his fishing line. They hauled it up onto the pier with a grappling hook, took the hook out of it and tossed it back. It looked to be about 24" across.

Deb wanted to walk around the town a bit. We stopped in a junk shop called Stone's Throw Away, and that guy ain't kidding. I've never seen a store stocked with such an eclectic collection of utter crap that you wouldn't buy at your best friend's yard sale. It's occured to me that the stuff in his shop may be stuff that he's trash picked.

A store for Tones

A lot of the tourist shops and restaurants are closed for the season, but we went into the T.S. Chu Co. store and got a good eyeload of more crap. This crap not quite as crappy as the crap at the Throw Away store. And there was one of those horsie rides for a quarter machines inside the store. I used to love those when I was a kid.

We were getting pretty hungry by that time, so our next stop was The Crab Shack on the North end of the island on Chimney Creek. My coworker Danielle, the hottie of which I speak occasionally, recommended this place, and hoo-boy was it good. We ordered a dozen raw oysters on the halfshell and the Crab Shack Sampler for one, which which was a platter heaped with smoked oysters, boiled shrimp, boiled crawfish, crablegs, sausage, potatoes, and an ear of corn. Deb also added a deviled crab on the side. As a result, I got to eat more than half of the platter because she was busy with the crab. This was my first taste of crawfish, and I liked 'em quite a bit. I dutifully sucked the head of the first one, but that made it a litte too salty, so I didn't do any more sucking after that.

The view from our table.

Platter for One

The restaurant has several cats wandering the grounds to clean up dropped morsels, but they seemed camera shy in a very sly way. Just as I'd get ready to take a picture of one, it would stop looking up at a patron's table and walk away, or turn its ass to me as it suddenly got the urge to rub up against a waitress's leg.

The Crab Shack is a great place. Deb fully enjoyed the Jimmy Buffet on the speakers. The food was excellent. The setting was perfect for the low-country atmosphere and cooking. They also had these great fire stands out on the deck�big flat-bottomed metal pots raised up on metal tubes with a good wood fire going inside them. Deb bought a Crab Shack zip-up sweatshirt and we got a pack of Crab Shack crab boil for Ricky and Lucy.

To complete the Tybee Island experience, we also visited the Tybee Island Lighthouse Station (current lighthouse constructed in 1866, three previous washed away or burned) and the museum across the street. The lighthouse is 154 feet tall, and up we climbed behind a mother trying to hold her three year old by his shirt collar to keep him from racing up the steps above, constantly telling him to use the hand rail, while she held a baby in the other arm. Deb asked her, "What possessed you?" Mom replied wearily, but still good naturedly, "I don't know. They've never been in a lighthouse? You want a baby?" Deb ended up carrying the baby (20-25 pounder) up four of the flights of stairs, about 20 stairs each. At the top it was really windy on the outside and mom let Deb continue to hold the baby while she sheparded the walking child around the lighthouse. We then took a picture of the trio for them. I thought it was really cool that the mom trusted Deb not to drop the baby or run off with it as many paranoid parents might. Deb, of course, thoroughly enjoyed getting to hold a baby, as she always does.

Tybee Lighthouse

The museum, which is housed in Fort Screven's Battery Garland, was somewhat better than the Tybee Island Marine Science Center. Exhibits focused on the native American population of the area, the old Desoto Hotel, and the fort and its inhabitants. I think it was four bucks each to get into both the lighthouse and museum.

One short stop at a quaint little strip of tourist shops and a kyak and bicycle outfitters. Deb bought a Christmas ornament Santa made out of a starfish.

Back to the B&B for tea. There was a chocolate cake with a smattering of pecans and coffee and tea available. After tea, Deb and I retired to our room for some great vacation sex and a refreshing nap for me and some quiet time for Deb. We showered, changed, and hit the town again at about 6:30, with reservations at The Lady and Sons for 8:15.

We walked all the way to the river, experiencing some of this city's famed cobblestone streets along the way. I took some pictures of the Talmadge Brige off to the north (or maybe it's west, I've gotten a little disoriented in thinking the water must always be east).

The Talmadge Bridge

The river is beautiful, but the shops are a complete tourist trap. The guide book says "These shops saw you and your credit card coming." Really nothing worth buying. We strolled around to kill more time before our reservations, but I sure am glad we had reservations. The place was packed, and deservedly so.

The Lady and Sons

As soon as our butts hit the seats a woman brought us each a plate with a buttery, garlicky, light, fluffy biscuit, and Deb also got a little cornbread muffin, which she shared, and it was also wonderful.

I had the buffet: fried chicken, beef tips, rice, greens, mashed potatoes, lima beans, and sweet potatoes. And that's just the stuff I actually had, not all that was offered. It also came with a dessert, your choice of pineapple cheesecake, banana pudding, or pineapple cobbler. I had the cobbler. I would've preferred any berry, but damn, everything was really good, and I'm not going to gripe about the dessert choices. Deb choose two appetizers for her dinner, the fried green tomatoes, and pan-seared oysters on a bed of spinach with tomatoes, onion, and garlic. They had a name for it, but we can't remember. We also got treated to one of the waitresses singing, very well I might add, a Johhny Mercer song to a patron, which is what they do for people having birthdays instead of that hideous damned Happy Birthday song (hideous and damned no matter the variation, in my opinion).

After dinner we waddled back toward the B&B in a light, misting rain. Good thing we'd had the foresight to bring along the umbrella. We walked a couple extra blocks to Forsyth Park to see the really big fountain. It's a beautiful park. We're going to try to go back during daylight hours. Along the way we got to see several more monuments, including Oglethorpe's and Tomo Chi Chi's resting places.

Forsyth Fountain

We also saw perhaps the ugliest purse in the world at a shop on the way home.

Finally back to the B&B for a couple pre-bed drinks, a smoke, and voluminous journaling. Almost as much as the walking today.

Moving on - 12:11 p.m. , 2007-08-14

Where the hell have I been? - 12:10 p.m. , 2007-02-19

Holy shit! - 2:24 p.m. , 2006-01-11

Stuffing recipe - 6:17 p.m. , 2005-12-13

Good Life Update - 10:22 a.m. , 2005-11-11